Maybe? It is really too early to tell. I don't think Castle or Reed had a good year - in fact I think that both were bad but showed flashes. Castle is longer with more defensive upside and Reed is a better ball handler with more offensive upside.
Yeah, I mentioned above I thought the Nuggets weren't in a place to aggregate salaries so that makes it a bit more difficult, but agree that's a lot easier in the offseason. Your points about other teams offering more is spot on though. I would be shocked if OKC breaks up a deep 66 win team to get Jokic but maybe that's possible given they will have to break up the team regardless once their young guys start making their money.
You move heaven and earth for Jokic. This is his age 30 playoffs, so if you have him next season you’ll likely get about 4-5 playoffs where he is a top 1-3 player in the league. The ABSOLUTE top of the top have slower aging curves. I think if he’s actually on the trade block, okc does whatever it takes and so do many other teams.
I think he’s also great spot up shooter, but he needs to get into the flow of the game first. He’s definitely not a sit in the corner catch and shoot guy.
Denver should be under the 2nd apron at the start of the offseason and will only have 13 players. Getting salaries and rosters to be okay should be easy. Getting Denver to trade him is the hard part, with the second hardest part coming up with an offer that can beat OKC.
If Houston is willing to do sengun and our draft assets that beats any okc offer unless they are willing to do both williams and chet. Our draft picks are WAY better.
Castle’s rookie year reminded me of Jalen’s rookie year. But instead Castle decided to kill it in the dunk contest
Chet and Jalen Williams have 1 more year before they have to be paid. SGA has 2 years before he gets paid even more. It is much easier to pay SGA and Jokic and fit a roster around them than try to make SGA, Chet, and Jalen Williams money work.
Reed is going to be fine, and I can envision it's possible he gets some Spurs era Steve Kerr type run in the playoffs.
I was for the Rockets trading down for someone like Knecht or Topic and future picks. And there's nothing that Castle has done to make me think otherwise. He's a raw player with some potential playing on a team that has no stakes. Just look at what Sheppard can do in similar circumstances. Neither to this point has shown clear path to future stardom. And honestly in a re-draft, if I were only given the choice between these two players, I'd probably still take Reed over Castle for the Rockets need. The only thing to take away from this last draft is that it truly was as bad as everyone said it was. And that it will likely take a few years for these guys to develop before people can truly say who was the right pick.
Wouldn't it be amazing if the key piece that enables us to beat OKC in a bid for Jokic is Sengun, whom Stone absolutely stole from Presti. It was highway robbery. p.s. it would be more fun to see Jokic and Sengun play side by side in a double big lineup.
He has some issues on defense, he can get beaten by some guys and doesn't always make the right decisions. However, you are over playing his defensive issues. He has very strong and active hands, he is disruptive and also he has improved at knowing when to rotate as the season has gone on. He is never going to be Alvin Robertson out there, but he has the ability to be a solid defender with the right people around him and he is fine at this point. It isn't as if Holiday is some lock down defender.
Not way more no, our draft assets blow theirs away by a mile. They can MAYBE compete if they do both chet and Williams, but they have zero premium picks really.
Chet and Jalen Williams are great. There is no maybe. If OKC offers both Chet and Jalen Williams, they win. Also, OKC has Denver's picks tied up for 4 years. OKC also has other players on great contracts. OKC has won 14 more games than the Rockets. The Rockets draft capital quality does not beat OKC's quantity by 14 wins.
A defensive minded guy who can’t shoot when we need shooting? He’s got below league average efficiency everywhere on the court when it comes to shooting
